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Game 2: Cavs at Bucks 7:30PM CST

It's been nearly three years since the Milwaukee Bucks lost at home to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and it's been much longer since they opened a season with back-to-back victories.

Brandon Jennings will try to help the Bucks to their best start in seven seasons Saturday night when they attempt to re-establish their dominance of the Cavaliers in their home opener.

Milwaukee (1-0) is averaging 110.9 points while winning seven in a row against Cleveland (1-1) for its longest winning streak in the series since an eight-game run from 1985-1987.

The Bucks have also won five straight over the Cavaliers at home, dating to a loss Dec. 6, 2009.

They're looking to extend those winning streaks after opening their season Friday with an impressive 99-88 victory at Boston. Milwaukee hasn't started 2-0 since winning its first three games in 2005-06.

"We missed the playoffs two years in a row, so it started from (Friday)," said Jennings, who connected on 9 of 17 field goals to finish with 21 points along with 13 assists and six steals.

He could be primed for another strong performance against the Cavs considering he averaged 22.0 points on 50.7 percent shooting over four meetings last season.

Ersan Ilyasova, who had 11 rebounds Friday, scored 20.0 points per game on 66.7 percent shooting (24 of 36) in his last three matchups with Cleveland, averaging 8.0 rebounds in that stretch.

Milwaukee's Tobias Harris is looking to build on an impressive start to the season, totaling 18 points and six rebounds against the Celtics after averaging 5.0 and 2.4, respectively, in 42 games as a rookie in 2011-12.

The Cavaliers are opening a six-game, 11-day road trip after going 10-23 as the visitor last season.

They failed to enter that stretch with some momentum, falling 115-86 to Chicago on Friday while allowing the Bulls to shoot 63.8 percent from the field.

"That's what you call a good, old-fashioned butt-whipping," coach Byron Scott said. "As a young team, we still have a lot to learn. As I told the players, you've got to come ready to play, especially against good teams."

Cleveland did that in its season opener, winning 94-84 over Washington on Tuesday behind 29 points from Kyrie Irving. The second-year point guard, however, followed that up with 6-of-15 shooting for a team-high 15 points against the Bulls.

Irving may be in for a bounce-back performance since he has totaled 57 points in two meetings with the Bucks, scoring 28 in a 115-105 loss at Milwaukee on March 14. He missed the Cavs' 107-98 defeat there April 4.

Various injuries have forced Anderson Varejao to miss six of the last seven meetings with the Bucks. The center is healthy now, and he scored 12 points with five rebounds Friday. He was much better in the season opener, getting nine points while setting career highs of 23 boards and nine assists.

The Cavaliers' cross-country trip also includes games against the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State, Phoenix, Oklahoma City and Brooklyn.

I was wondering when you were gonna make these before game threads. Last night was awesome, except Doron's minutes. Ellis looked blah but he sure can make up for it tonight. Brandon did excellent against Rondo and now he's gotta try and stop Kyrie. Should be a fun one to watch.

I think dunleavy playing well was the reason Harris didn't play much. Hard to complain about that. Dunleavy was shooting well, can't take him out of the game for the sole purpose of getting some one else minutes.

Even though they blew that late lead last nights ending made it worth it.

It seemed the game was headed to overtime, but Jennings' clutch shot instantly changed the mood.

"I was thinking about calling a timeout if we didn't have anything," Dunleavy said. "But he got it in a nice rhythm coming into his left hand, and I tried to put it past the numbers for him.

"We'll see how it plays out. To be 2-0 feels good; you can't do any better than that. We feel we have a lot of room to improve. But it's a nice start."

Coach Scott Skiles said the play was designed for Jennings to pop out beyond the three-point arc.

"With point 7 (on the clock), you're not even sure you're going to get a good look," Skiles said. "But the guys ran the play well and Brandon was able to just get squared up enough to get enough air under it to give it a chance.

"I was worried about Varejao, that he would sniff it out, but maybe just a split second too late."

Dunleavy finished with 29 points, 12 rebounds and six assists while playing 35 minutes, leading another strong bench effort by the Bucks.

Forward Larry Sanders added 17 points, seven rebounds and four blocks before fouling out with 1:28 remaining. The crowd chanted, "Larry, Larry," saluting his efforts as he left the court.

Sanders' shot-blocking skills were missed on Irving's final drive in the lane, and forward Ekpe Udoh contested the shot but said he wanted to be careful not to foul.

A three-point play by Irving would have put the Cavaliers ahead, so Udoh backed off at the last second.

"I didn't want the whole city mad at me," Udoh said.

Monta Ellis contributed 23 points and four assists and shared the ball-handling chores with Jennings, who finished with 13 points and 13 assists. It was the second straight 13-assist night for Jennings.

But the Cavaliers made the Bucks point guard work as coach Byron Scott opted to use 6-foot-6 forward Alonzo Gee to defend Jennings.

"It had a big effect on the game," Skiles said. "We had great difficulty even getting into our offense when Gee was up on Brandon. He's a high-level defender laterally, and he's big.

"So we tried to put the ball in Monta's hands a little bit more and let him play the point. We had a little success doing that."

Gee finished with 18 points and six assists and rookie guard Dion Waiters had 13 points for Cleveland.

The Bucks held a 55-49 halftime lead but could not shake the Cavaliers, who led by 12 early in the game and were able to hold the lead for much of the final quarter.

"We wanted to have a little more pop in the beginning of the game based on what we did last night (in Boston), and we didn't," Skiles said. "But we scrambled around and found a way to get one."

The Bucks did lead, 102-95, late in the game before Cleveland scored seven straight points, all by Irving.

"He's their primary scorer," Jennings said. "He's kind of like that Derrick Rose, that Deron Williams guy for their team. Going in, you know he's going to have the ball in his hands a lot.

"The main thing is you've got to make him work on the defensive end and that's what Monta did."

Post game show at 1250 radio with Sparky and Woelfel. Sparky mentions Sanders is like KG. Woelfel says no. I have to say no as well. Sanders at first was a young Ervin "Stone hands" Johnson but coming around to being a Camby lite without the injuries. Or maybe even Theo Ratliff. Also Woelfel say's Dunleavy should be our starting sf til Moute is back. Sparky isn't happy with Dalembert walking down the court.